Month: January 2016

As we make our way from brewery to brewery I was quickly realizing that I need to slow down. I may be a big guy, but drinking and driving is never safe. So after a brief lunch and pause, and pounding many and many waters, I deemed that I shall be only having 1 beer per brewery, to make sure I’m safe. Samwise on the otherhand, she was the passenger in the Fiat and could have as many as she wanted.

Once you walk into Slippery Pig, the first thing you notice is the wonderful smell. Not of beer, but of the BBQ. I wish I would have known that before we went and got lunch, because it smelled wonderful and the people sitting next to us, looked full as can be. But again, this is a beer blog, not a beer and bbq blog (NEW IDEA!). So we needed to try the beers.

Now since I was only having one beer, its very difficult to gauge the quality of the beer. BUT, from the one beer I had. I loved it. They have a huge selection and even though I only had the Rye Pale (I love Pales), I was a big fan. Sam had the IPA, and while all she could muster out to me at the time was “I’m so full”. She thoroughly enjoyed her beer.

Poulsbo is a destination location for craft beer. If you take the ferry to Seattle, you’ll pass several great breweries, so spending on your taste, you’ll always be happy. If I had to suggest a route for Poulsbo, I’d go Downpour and Hood Canal, stop off for lunch at Slippery Pig and then walk to Valholl and end up at Sound. Of course, that is a lot of drinking, so make sure you stay safe and maybe find a DD.

There are many things that Wingman Brewers and headman Ken Thoburn do well. Not only is he a wonderful dancer, bourbon connoisseur, and stylish male, but he is also a terrific brewer. And every year that brewing skill culminates at Porterpalooza. If you’re a fan of Porters, porterpalooza is dang near heaven. Ken brews dozens of different types of Porters ranging from Avacado to my personal favorite Pistachio. Now if you’re a porter purist and hate flavored beers, there are even Porters with just a hint of flavor and keeps the traditional robust flavor (Like Nutella and Irish Coffee). This event is a real treat.

Valholl, the Norse word for Valhalla, is the great hall where Vikings get to go when they are killed in combat, it is also the 42nd brewery that we reviewed for our blog. This is the second Norse themed brewery that I have had the pleasure of reviewing and while this one didn’t have kick ass barbeque, it did feel an awful lot more like a Viking hall than Odin. I wouldn’t have been too surprised if the beer was served in a drinking horn (unfortunately, it was not).

Since this was not our first stop of the day, we decided to keep things light and each have only one beer. Since this is a blog about Washington beer, I felt that it was necessary to try the flagship Brew Bitch IPA (you’re welcome guys), which I particularly liked. Matt tried The Mother in Law Imperial IPA which he gave a solid four stars. This is a brewery I would like to come back to and try a sampler at. The few beers we did get to try were solid and I have high hopes for the other taps.

Speaking of other taps. Valholl keeps a wide assortment of their beers on tap, but also has local cider and home made root beer if one of your Vikings does not want to drink beer (although what kind of Viking doesn’t drink beer…amirite).

I’m not going to lie guys, I’m impressed with the brewery scene we found over in the Kingston/Poulsbo area. If you are looking for a quick getaway and want to try out some cool breweries, this makes a really fun weekend.

As we continue our journey to Silverdale, we come across an ol’ staple of the Peninsula. The Hood Canal Brewery. You can find their beers all over, from Port Townsend to Brinnon (I love the Geoduck, GO THERE!). We make our way into a small industrial complex with roll up doors, we catch brief smell of delicious beer and welcome ourselves into the taproom.

While not much to see in size, I’ve always been a huge fan of Hood Canal Brewing. Mostly because they make one of my favorite IPAs, the Dabob Bay. Dabob Bay which is known for its great oysters is located just north of Brinnon and south of Quilcene. And if you have never heard of those towns, its okay. I don’t blame you, they are tiny. But the IPA is wonderful. Another one of their beers I am a giant fan of is their Termination Pt. Double IPA, unfortunately this is a seasonal beer, but I’m sure if we ask nicely they will serve it year around, right?!

If you ever take the Kingston ferry I suggest two things. Stopping off at Downpour for a pint and some pizza, and then continue down highway 104 and stop off at Hood Canal Brewery, it’ll be on the right.

*Note – This was a follow up article I wrote last year. I’m posting it here, cause I like it.

Things are a lot different in yours 30s compared to your 20s. First off, we cant process dairy like we used too. Which sucks, because I really love milk on my fruit loops. Also, my body hurts a lot more. I wish someone would have told me that when I was in my 20s, but no, they were like “Do this keg stand Matt, its awesome!!”. But now I get to the point I really wanted to talk about, your children. In my 20s, some of my friends had children. Everyone makes mistakes and I wasn’t there to judge them but to support them. Now I’m 31 and damn near all my friends have children. And because of that, I believe there needs to be an update on ‘Why beer is better than your child’.

As you may know from my old blog post, Why Beer is better than your child, I was once really supportive of my friends. I mean, who else would pretend so hard? But now I’m the minority. My once stable group of anti-children friends have children now. And I’m cold and alone. But I’m not giving up. I’m here to tell you that beer is still better than your child, and for much deeper and more refreshing reasons.

Diapers. Yeah, I’m talking to the person who is wrists deep in green baby poop. My beer has a diaper, well kind of, its a koozy and instead of dealing with crap flowing up the child’s back it is there to keep my refreshing Olympia beer from getting warm. Remember me fondly when your are buying a costco size of talc and I’m buying 40 ounces of high gravity deliciousness. (I’m joking, I’m 31 now, instead of 40s, try a wonderful Holy Mountain IPA)

Crying. Dear god, make the crying end. People always say it doesn’t bother you as much when it is your own child. You know what? I don’t give a rat’s ass. Just because there is 1 kid you don’t care that cries, there are 4 billion other people who do. But you know who doesn’t cry? HOPS! All hops want to do is bitter your beer and love you. And when I say love you, I don’t mean one of those saggy ladies in the back allies of Vegas, but love you like your dog loves you. Unabashed love.

Lastly, the biggest reason why beer is better than your child – it gets you drunk. And lets all be honest. Being drunk is awesome.

And if you disagree with any of this, it’s probably cause you are one of those parents who loves their child and sucks at life. CHEERS, and have another beer.

*Note – This article is something I wrote 5 years ago for another blog. I wanted to post it cause I really enjoy it.

Are you like me? In your late 20’s, childless, on facebook a lot, and have a lot of friends who are getting knocked up? Yeah, I thought so…. There are a lot of us out there. It’s not our faults we don’t have children. We fancy ourselves as individuals responsible enough not to have children. But I digress, the reason I started the topic of “Why beer is better than your child” is because lately on FB, a large portion of my friends are having children. Good for you, you are keeping our civilization moving forward. But I don’t care for every living update about your child. I’m your friend, and I will feign interest in your child, but I don’t give a damn that he looks sooooo cute in his new sailor outfit. That outfit sucks. Your kid will actually hate you later on in life about that picture. Look, I know I will be a terrible parent, hell, I can barely keep myself alive with the help of my mother. So, that’s why I have adopted something far better than any child, beer. Let me tell you why beer is so amazing.

Regardless of how you treat it, beer will always love you. All it wants is to be consumed. Children on the other hand? I assume you have to feed them, bathe them, probably have to change them. Beer won’t go through that awkward stage when all it does is resent you. Children will do that. You remember your middle school years? You hated everyone and everything. Beer, nah, it ain’t like that. Beer just wants to sit down next to you, and enjoy your company. And what’s the great part about beer? It will help you forget that you had children. Yeah, after a few of your closest beer buddies, those little jerk children seem to cry less and less. And ladies and gentlemen, that’s parenting!

Pardon the pun at the top. But it had to be done. 2015 was a magnificent year for drinking beer (Lets be honest, every year is a great year for drinking beer). In 2015, we saw new breweries open up. We had new styles becoming insanely popular. And overall, we just had a great time.

Before I talk about the year in review, I will admit that Sam and I are very behind in reviewing our beers. To be honest, I was going to count up all the breweries we visited from my swarm/untappd check ins and I started to get annoyed scrolling down the page and counting. We were around 100, and maybe have blogged 1/3 of those. We even went on several brewery trips around the United States that we hadn’t mentioned much about in the past since this is a Washington beer blog, not a Arizona, Colorado, Dallas, Calgary, Scotland beer blog.